Comminuting apparatus such as grinders and chippers are used to mechanically grind, chip or shred material to reduce the size of the material. Such apparatus may be used to reduce the size of arboraceous material, such as tree limbs, stumps or brush, or other material (e.g., building materials, fibrous organic or inorganic materials, etc.) in land-clearing, municipal waste, recycling, repurposing, and composting operations. One common type of reducing machine is known as a horizontal grinder. A horizontal grinder may include a power in-feed mechanism that forces larger material (e.g., wood-based material such as tree trunks, tree branches, logs, etc.) into contact with a rotating comminuting drum. The larger material is contacted by reducing elements, such as teeth, grinding elements, or “knives”, carried by the comminuting drum, and portions of the material are forced past a shear edge defined by an anvil of the horizontal grinder.
Upon passing the shear edge of the anvil, the material enters a chamber, which in the case of a horizontal grinder may be defined at least in part by a sizing screen that extends around a portion of the comminuting drum. Within the chamber, the material is further reduced by the reducing elements carried by the comminuting drum. Once the material within the chamber is reduced to a certain particle size, the material is ultimately discharged from the machine. An example of a horizontal grinder is disclosed in US Patent Publication No. 2009/0242677, which is incorporated herein by reference for all relevant and consistent purposes.
Conventional comminuting apparatus generally rely on clamps to secure the knives within the comminuting drum. In operation, the loading experienced by the reducing elements may cause the reducing elements to slip out of the comminuting drum and contact the anvil, resulting in a catastrophic failure. Some comminuting apparatus use serrations or grooves to limit such problems. However, such apparatus restrict a user's ability to adjust and/or maintain a given bite size of the comminuting apparatus through the wear life of a given reducing element, as serrations and grooves only permit incremental adjustment of the length of the knives. Further, such apparatus can require complex and costly manufacturing processes.
A continuing need exists for a comminuting apparatus that adequately secures cutting elements and allows the bite size of a comminuting apparatus to be easily maintained through a reducing element wear cycle by adjustment of the cutting elements.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.